Tag Archives: music video of the week

"A lot of the symbolism is all centered around the ideas of unity and transcendence, death and rebirth, and the infinity of everything. When I first heard the song, I kept seeing this movement of traveling through multidimensional space and transforming landscapes, and the chorus was definitely always moments of opening and clarity." - Johnny...

In this slow-moving dream world, long-time collaborators Kahlil Joseph and Shabazz Palaces focus their eyes on a number of figures inhabiting different spaces: a blue-faced boy sitting on a beach; a figure scampering across a dark room; a strong woman standing tall in the breeze. It’s a fashion video that flies in and out of...

Drawing obvious inspiration from timelessness and less obvious inspiration from Aleister Crowley’s Thoth tarot deck, director Vinyl Williams takes Dub Thompson’s “No Time” and turns it into a multi-level philosophical exercise. Williams explores the slippery nature of existence by using both HD and analog techniques, which ebb, flow, and spin within a mad cycle, in...Read...

An appropriate follow-up to our feature on Experimental Music on Children’s TV, Nor-Cal powerhouse Merrill Garbus of tUnE-yArDs leads listeners into similar notalgic territories with the music video for “Water Fountain”. With the aid of director Joel Kefali, the group explores nostalgic backdrops of children’s television shows, incorporating everything from dance routines and 8-bit animations...Read...

Sometimes words can take on more profound meaning when spoken by complete strangers, and regardless of whether this is the intention behind the music video for Cloud Boat’s “Carmine”, this is indeed the effect. Directed by Chris Toumazou, this video is executed in a simple laundromat setting and carried by the lipsyncing of a number...Read...

Talk about perfection in voyeurism! This music video for Shy Girls “Voyeur’s Gaze”, directed by Tony Lowe and featuring Chez Deep drag collective’s Bailey Stiles, is a one-take that’s all about the setting. Drawing inspiration from Russian webcam rooms, its aesthetic combines those cyber antics with the lives and times of many a boy-crazy teenage...Read...

Negative space, primary colors, and subtly pixelated forms immediately catch viewers in the early scenes of “No Excuse”. As time progresses, the video increases in complexity and speed, and as it zooms out to show the complete scene, one recognizes human beings, twirling and contorting before a blue screen backdrop. With slow-motion as their most...Read...

For “Peppermint”, Julio Bashmore’s collaboration with Jessie Ware, director Noah Harris offers viewers an abstract glimpse into his rave experiences and headspaces from the ’90s. Using found and 3-D printed objects, Harris brings to life a maddening, undulating collage of female forms, gods, creepy babies, and old-school toys, closely synced and timed to Bashmore’s erratic...Read...

Inspired by Salvador Dali’s painting and poem, The Metamorphosis of Narcissus, Matador Records’s Esben and the Witch have teamed up with prolific director Rafael Bonilla to create a colorful claymation world that’s sinister, playful, and chock full of inventive characters. In this comparative interview, both parties speak to the collaborative process.

Focus on Plastic‘s groovy basslines and the squishy sonic silliness underlying this track, as colorful animations weave through neon worlds at hyperspeed. A curious cast of characters emerges to dance and swing around the occasionally displayed lyric, and this playfully psychedelic music video, illustrated by Dawid Krępski, is all too fun a journey. It pays...Read...